Heading into the 2013 season, Brandon Moss suddenly has been thrust into a larger role with the Oakland A's. With the trade of Chris Carter to the Houston Astros for Jed Lowrie, Moss is the unquestioned starter at first base. On the surface, that would seem to be a good thing. Moss is coming off a career year in which he hit .291 with 21 home runs in just 84 games. The optimist in me says more time, more production. And considering Moss has long carried the reputation for being a plus power hitter, the logical explanation for 2012 may have ...
Heading into the 2013 season, Brandon Moss suddenly has been thrust into a larger role with the Oakland A's. With the trade of Chris Carter to the Houston Astros for Jed Lowrie, Moss is the unquestioned starter at first base. On the surface, that would seem to be a good thing. Moss is coming off a career year in which he hit .291 with 21 home runs in just 84 games. The optimist in me says more time, more production. And considering Moss has long carried the reputation for being a plus power hitter, the logical explanation for 2012 may have ...
With the additions of Jed Lowrie and Chris Young and the plug-and-play system still in effect from last year, the Oakland Athletics have a myriad of options when it comes to the lineup. For the sake of ease, these four are the likeliest and the best choices. The depth of this team is incredible. Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson are penciled in at the corner infield positions. Hiroyuki Nakajima is slated for shortstop, though Jed Lowrie provides a fantastic safety net should Nakajima's transition hit a snag. Second base can be manned by Lowrie, Scott Sizemore, Jemile Weeks or Grant ...
With the additions of Jed Lowrie and Chris Young and the plug-and-play system still in effect from last year, the Oakland Athletics have a myriad of options when it comes to the lineup. For the sake of ease, these four are the likeliest and the best choices. The depth of this team is incredible. Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson are penciled in at the corner infield positions. Hiroyuki Nakajima is slated for shortstop, though Jed Lowrie provides a fantastic safety net should Nakajima's transition hit a snag. Second base can be manned by Lowrie, Scott Sizemore, Jemile Weeks or Grant ...
The Oakland A's had a busy winter stocking up on talent in order to defend their AL West title. They acquired outfielder Chris Young, shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, catcher John Jaso and infielder Jed Lowrie to bolster the squad.The A's did lose shortstops Stephen Drew and Cliff Pennington, outfielder/desginated hitter Jonny Gomes, first baseman Chris Carter, starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy and catcher George Kottaras. Time will tell if the new additions can provide more value this year than the departures did last season.Regardless of how well Young, Nakajima, Jaso and Lowrie perform, the biggest source of improvement from last season is ...
After a busy offseason for the Oakland A's, they will fight to retain their standing on top of the American League West.During said offseason, the A's have moved around a lot of infielders through addition and subtraction.Gone are the days of Cliff Pennington at shortstop or second base, after he was traded to Arizona. Stephen Drew is gone as well after being the A's shortstop down the stretch. Another trade split apart the solid first base platoon of Brandon Moss and Chris Carter with Carter being sent to Houston.Brandon Inge also will not be back in Oakland this year.With all the departing infielders, who will take ...
The Oakland Athletics aren't known as a defensively gifted team, but motivation and experience will lead to better play in the field—something they must have to repeat as AL West champions. Looking at stats, it's head-scratching how this team won the division. It had to be heart and pitching. The team batting average was third-worst in the league, and they set an American League record for most strikeouts in a season. Oakland committed the eighth-most errors and, fittingly, had the eighth-worst fielding percentage as well. Yet oddly enough, the team ranked No. 5 in defensive efficiency ratio, according to MLB.com. ...
Say what you will, but Billy Beane is not averse to making decisive moves. Adding guys like John Jaso and Jed Lowrie may not be as sexy as Josh Hamilton, but the Oakland Athletics have further addressed offseason deficiencies with their moves. With Lowrie in the fold, the A's now have someone with real Major League pop to fill in voids all over the infield. That means players like Eric Sogard and Adam "Skolnick" Rosales have less at-bats in meaningful situations. I like them both, but neither should be hitting more than 70 times a year in the big leagues. The reality ...
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane swung what he termed to be his final deal of the offseason on Monday by acquiring infielder Jed Lowrie and reliever Fernando Rodriguez from the Houston Astros for first baseman/designated hitter Chris Carter, pitching prospect Brad Peacock and catching prospect Max Stassi.Lowrie is the key to the deal for the A's. He provides them with a hedge against Beane's bets at all four infield positions—particularly at shortstop. Beane summed up his interest in Lowrie by telling the media,Jed is a guy we've had a lot of interest in going back to his Boston ...
Billy Beane continues to make trades this offseason as we get closer and closer to spring training. After earlier in the offseason Beane acquired Chris Young and John Jaso via trade, Beane is at it again.This time, Beane gave up three players in exchange for two (according to CSN California) with the newest member of the AL West: the Houston Astros. The A's parted with half of their first-base platoon in Chris Carter, pitcher Brad Peacock and catcher Max Stassi. The A's received infielder Jed Lowrie and pitcher Fernando Rodriguez from the Houston Astros.After how the A's shocked the baseball ...